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“About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 to do the job I get paid $67,300 for. He is happy to have the work. I am happy that I only have to work about 90 minutes per day (I still have to attend meetings myself, and I spend a few minutes every day talking code with my Indian counterpart.) The rest of my time my employer thinks I’m telecommuting. They are happy to let me telecommute because my output is higher than most of my coworkers. Now I’m considering getting a second job and doing the same thing with it. That may be pushing my luck though. The extra money would be nice, but that could push my workday over five hours.” —from posting at Slashdot (02.04.04), reported by Dan Pink
No Limits?“Short on Priests, U.S. Catholics Outsource Prayer to Indian Clergy”—Headline, New York Times/06.13.04 (“Special intentions,” $.90 for Indians, $5.00 for Americans)
The Incredible, Wild, Whacky, Scary, SuperCool Future … and Why We’re Not Even Remotely Prepared, and What We Can Do About It, for the Sake of of Our Careers, Work and Organizations: A Musing on Strategies, Tactics, Attitudes, Tips, and General Observations, Such as Why a CFO Should Never Be Promoted to CEO, Why All MBA Programs Should Be Closed and Shuttered (except Kellogg), How the “2Bs” (Bentonville and Beijing) Became the Co-capitols of the Universe, Why Only Freaks Get Things Done (in Freaky Times), Why Outrageously Audacious Devotion to Game-changing Innovation Is the PSR/Primary Survival Requisite (Duh), Why Women Are So Much Better Leaders Than Men (Duh II) (and They Also Buy Everything, Though Just Try Telling That to Chicago’s Advertising “Geniuses”), Why I Call Hospitals “The Killing Fields,” and How UPS & GE & IBM Are Actually All About Love! (We Will Totally Cover All This and More in 3F, or 90 Minutes in “Old Language.”)
Tom Peters’ Re-Imagine!Business Excellence in a Disruptive AgeWorld Business Forum Chicago/17November2004
Good Is Good BusinessBill George, Authentic Leadership: Rediscover the Secrets to Creating Lasting ValueSydney Harman, Mind Your Own Business: A Maverick's Guide to Business, Leadership, and LifeMax De Pree, Leadership Is an ArtIra Jackson and Jane Nelson, Profits with Principles
“A focus on cost-cutting and efficiency has helped many organizations weather the downturn, but this approach will ultimately render them obsolete.Only the constant pursuit of innovation can ensure long-term success.”—Daniel Muzyka, Dean, Sauder School of Business, Univ of British Columbia (FT/09.17.04)
“We’re now entering a new phase of business where the group will be a franchising and management company where brandmanagement is central.”—David Webster, Chairman, InterContinental Hotels Group“InterContinental will now have far more to do with brandownership than hotel ownership.”—James Dawson of Charles Stanley (brokerage)Source: International Herald Tribune, 09.16, on the sacking of CEO Richard North, whose entire background is in finance
My Story**Complete with context, plot, resolution (though most of it may never happen; though if it doesn’t it’ll be because something even more weird came down)
A Coherent Story: Context-Solution-BedrockContext1: Intense Pressures(China/Tech/Competition)Context2: Painful/Pitiful Adjustment(Slow, Incremental, Mergers)Solution1: New Organization(Technology,Web+ Revolution, Virtual-“BestSourcing,”“PSF” “nugget”)Solution2: No Option: Value-added Strategy(Services- Solutions-Experiences-DreamFulfillment “Ladder”)Solution3: “Aesthetic” “VA” Capstone(Design-Brands)Solution4:New Markets (Women, ThirdAge)Bedrock1: Innovation(New Work, Speed, Weird, Revolution)Bedrock2: Talent(Best, Creative, Entrepreneurial, Schools)Bedrock3: Leadership(Passion, Bravado, Energy, Speed)
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” —General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff. U. S. Army
“One Singaporean workercosts as much as …3 … in Malaysia 8 … in Thailand 13 … in China 18 … in India.”Source: The Straits Times/08.18.03
“Thaksinomics” (after Thaksin Shinawatra, PM)/ “Bangkok Fashion City”:“managed asset reflation”(add to brand value of Thai textiles by demonstrating flair and design excellence)Source: The Straits Times/03.04.2004
Once upon a time, there was a perpetual, comforting night-time glow in the little boy’s bedroom window …
Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987: 39 members of the Class of ’17 were alive in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100 “survivors” underperformed the market by 20%; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak, outperformed the market 1917 to 1987.S&P 500 from 1957 to 1997: 74 members of the Class of ’57 were alive in ’97; 12 (2.4%) of 500 outperformed the market from 1957 to 1997.Source: Dick Foster & Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market
“Organizations will still be critically important in the world, but as ‘organizers,’ not ‘employers’!”— Charles Handy
“Don’t own nothin’ if you can help it. If you can, rent your shoes.”F.G.
Not “out sourcing”Not “off shoring”Not “near shoring”Not “in sourcing”but …“Best Sourcing”
3. Re-imagine Organizing II: The Professional Service Firm (“PSF”) Imperative.
Sarah: “ Papa, what do you do?”Papa:“I’m ‘overhead.’ ”
Sarah: “ Papa, what do you do?”Papa:“I manage a ‘cost center.’ ”
Answer: PSF![Professional Service Firm]Department Headto …Managing Partner, Finance, [HR, IS, etc.] Inc.
“Typically in a mortgage company or financial services company, ‘risk management’ is an overhead, not a revenue center. We’ve become more than that.We pay for ourselves, and we actually make money for the company.”—Frank Eichorn, Director of Credit Risk Data Management Group, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Source: sas.com)
(4A.) The “PSF33”: Thirty-Three Professional Service Firm Marks of Excellence
“Thaksinomics” (after Thaksin Shinawatra, PM)/ “Bangkok Fashion City”:“managed asset reflation”(add to brand value of Thai textiles by demonstrating flair and design excellence)Source: The Straits Times/03.04.2004
4. Re-imagine Business’ Fundamental Value Proposition: PSFs Unbound … Fighting “Inevitable Commoditization” via “The Solutions Imperative.”
“The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar companies, employing similarpeople, with similar educational backgrounds, coming up with similarideas, producing similar things, with similarprices and similarquality.”Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle, Funky Business
Planetary Rainmaker-in-Chief“[Sam] Palmisano’s strategy is to expand tech’s borders by pushing users—and entire industries—toward radically different business models.The payoff for IBM would be access to an ocean of revenue—Palmisano estimates it at $500 billion a year—that technology companies have never been able to touch.”—Fortune/06.14.04
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS Aims to Be the Traffic Manager for Corporate America”—Headline/BW/07.19.2004
New York-Presbyterian:7-year, $500M enterprise-systems consulting and equipment contract with GE Medical SystemsSource: NYT/07.18.2004
Flextronics--$14B; 100K employees; 60% p.a. growth (’93-’00)-- “contract mfg” to EMS/Electronics Manufacturing Services (design, mfg, logistics, repair); “total package of outsourcing solutions” (Pamela Gordon, Technology Forecasters)-- “The future of manufacturing isn’t just in making things but adding value”(3,500 design engineers)Source: Asia Inc./02.2004
“Thaksinomics” (after Thaksin Shinawatra, PM)/ “Bangkok Fashion City”:“managed asset reflation”(add to brand value of Thai textiles by demonstrating flair and design excellence)Source: The Straits Times/03.04.2004